Travelling Nowhere
by Tsukuyomi-chan
Summary: Rouga travels around Japan, finally exploring things he's never gotten to see. It turns out the world's a lot larger than both he and Kyoya ever expected it to be. Mainly KyoRou.
1. Friendship

The adventures of Aragami Rouga after the events of season 1 written for Buddyfight Week. Sorry if it ends up really bad cause I'm really rushing to finish this, not even proofread. This is basically the adventures of Aragami Rouga after the events of season 1, off in the woods who knows where doing who knows what because he's a nerd, with this plot I came up with in the middle of math class.

I made Tasuku way sassier than he should be whoops I had fun.

Prompt: **Friendship**

* * *

Rouga spends the first night after the Fuji Mine incident at Gao's home. All of the kids are throwing a victory party for his victory over Gaen Kyoya, and Rouga has never felt more out of place. It's bright, loud, colourful, and everyone is laughing. He's not sure what he's supposed to do. Everyone, and literally everyone is there. Rouga isn't sure if it's claustrophobia from everyone crowding around him, or if its agoraphobia from the crowds of people, but he wants to leave.

"Here's more takoyaki!" Gao's little sister says, and all the other kids begin cheering again, jumping over him and tearing at each other to grab more of the snacks. Savages.

"But still, I'm surprised you decided to come, Aragami-senpai." Zanya says, his mouth full of that ball food. The buddy monster Asmodai is doing some weird dance in the background with the other buddy monsters, including Cerberus.

"I'm… not a party person…" He can't remember the last party he had been to. Maybe it was that time Kyoya made him go to that business party with him, so that he wouldn't be alone. But that one was full of fancy suits and stuck up adults and alcohol and classical music and grace. This had none of that, except for maybe the bright lights. That announcer girl won't stop yelling in the background while some of the other kids are buddyfighting, and Rouga feels like he's going to have a headache by the end of the night.

"You should try some yo!" Tetsuya shouts, leaning over and shoving a plate of takoyaki under his nose. "Come on, it's delicious yo!"

"N-No thanks…"

Rouga's stomach growls. He hasn't eaten in two days. His last meal was leftover stadium food Cerberus stole for him. He's hungry.

"Maybe just one." He mumbles, and the two boys cheer. "That's nothing to cheer about!"

Rouga takes the plate from Tetsuya and eyes the food suspiciously. After all that time of Kyoya stuffing gourmet meats down his throat, he's not exactly sure what to make of this. He picks one up with his fingers and pops it in his mouth. And then another. And another.

Rouga continually stuffs the takoyaki in his mouth until the plate is empty, and feels so glad that he doesn't have to go hungry for another day because he had…

Friends…

He looks down and sees the sauce all over his fingers and face, and a bunch of the other kids had come over while he had been eating to watch him, and they were all laughing cheerfully. "Glad you like it, Aragami-senpai!" Tetsuya says.

"Get him another plate!" Zanya shouts at the kitchen.

"Aragami-senpai, you liked it?!" And Rouga turns to see Gao too close to his face, a huge smile spread on it, and he goes completely red.

"It's not bad, that's it!" Rouga yells. "It's not good either!"

"Pack him an entire suitcase full for his travels." Tasuku laughs from the corner, and Rouga shoots him a glare.

"You're joking right, Ryuuenji." Rouga says.

"Me?" Tasuku fakes a look of hurt. "No way, Aragami- _senpai._ "

"You wanna go?!" Rouga shouts, just as Gao's little sister comes out of the kitchen again with a huge plate of takoyaki. She sets it down in front of him on the coffee table and smiles up at him.

"We already have six dozen packed into containers for you to take. Do you think you'll need anymore?" She asks him, and Rouga doesn't know how to deal with the question, or the little girl asking the question. And while he's still staring in shock at the little girl who didn't seemed frightened at all by his appearance or demeanour, Gao and Tetsuya took the chance to eat some of the newly made takoyaki.

"Hey, those are mine!" Rouga shouts, snatching the plate away from them. Gao and Tetsuya blink innocently.

"But you said you didn't like them yo." Tetsuya replies.

"I never said that!"

"But you never put a claim on those takoyaki," Gao grinned, "so I guess that means we're going to have to buddyfight for them!"

"What?"

And all the sudden he's surrounded by shouts on all sides on who was going to win, and who wanted to buddyfight next. And they wouldn't stop shouting and laughing and he kept hearing "come on Aragami-senpai" and Tasuku's laughing and Gao kept doing those annoying puppy dog eyes of his that Rouga finally couldn't take it anymore.

"FINE, I'LL FIGHT YOU!" He yells. "You'd better be prepared for the worst beatdown of your life, Mikado Gao!"

All around him, the room erupted in cheering, and Gao smiled brighter. That was not the intended reaction at all, and it's so frustrating and Rouga slams his deck on the table ready to go.

He can see Cerberus sighing before curling up on the couch to sleep.

* * *

It's dawn, is the first thing Rouga realizes when he wakes up. The second is that Gao is sprawled across his stomach, fast asleep, using Tasuku's stomach as a pillow who was sleeping opposite to him. He was on top of Baku and Zanya, and Cerberus was sleeping peacefully beside him on Tetsuya's head. Everyone else was in equally strange sleeping positions around the room. They had buddyfights all night long, and the house had never quieted down until kids began dropping from exhaustion. They all had smiles on their faces, snuggled up together.

"Kyoya, a future like this isn't bad at all." Rouga says quietly. Maybe someday…

Having all that food last night must have made him sleepy. Getting food was no problem at the Gaen mansion, but Rouga never forgot his basic survival skills. If they saved all that food they ate last night, his mom and him wouldn't have starved in the winters. But that wouldn't have helped at all in the bitter cold.

He could barely remember what his mom looked like now.

"Let's go, Cerberus." He says, rubbing the dog's middle head, watching it yawn and stretch before hopping off Tetsuya's head, the boy groaning and turning over in his sleep. Rouga carefully pushes Gao off of him to not wake him up, then tiptoes around all the bodies on the floor to the kitchen where, sure enough, there are two shopping bags full of takoyaki and other assorted foods, with a note on it.

 _"It's not healthy to just eat takoyaki, no matter how tasty it is."_ on top of a container of fruits and bread. What a ridiculous family. Rouga picks up the bags and walks out the back door.

"You're leaving, Aragami-senpai?" Rouga turns and sees Gao standing there, Tasuku walking out to join him, his hair a mess and a hand over his yawning mouth.

"Yeah."

"Y-You could stay a bit longer." Gao says. "After all, we're friends, you can stay at my house whenever you need a place to go. I know… you don't have a place… after…"

"I'm not staying here, Mikado Gao." Rouga says.

"You're still a wanted criminal." Tasuku says. "It's probably for the best that you leave as soon as possible."

"Tasuku-senpai!"

"No, he's right." Rouga says, hitching the bags up his back further. "It's better if I go now to cause you all less trouble. I have a lot of travelling to do."

"I…" Gao says, running forwards and grasping his hands. "Aragami-senpai!" Gao looks straight at him with big eyes. "You're my friend. And I know Gaen Kyoya is your friend too! It'll take some time, but things will work out!"

Rouga doesn't know what to say. It's been so, so long since anyone's ever tried to comfort him about anything, and despite the cold winter weather, there's a pit in his stomach that feels warm. "I'm not your friend, I'm your rival, remember?" Is what he manages to mumble in response.

"What was that? If you want to be Gao-kun's rival, you're going to have to go through me first, Aragami Rouga." Tasuku says, stepping forwards with a smile. "You're going to have to come back some day, because we still have a score to settle. And everyone here will be waiting.

"Tryin'na act tough with a bedhead like yours," Rouga mutters, and Tasuku's face goes red. He reaches up to shake his hair back into place, and Gao laughs and reaches up to help him. And Rouga smiles a bit watching the two mess up Tasuku's hair even further.

"I'll gladly fight you again, Ryuuenji Tasuku." Rouga lets himself smile back. "But that'll have to be another day."

He activates grips his spear in his hand and turns to leave. "Tonight was… fun." Rouga says, and takes off into the air. He can hear the shouts of goodbye from behind him, and smiles at the thought of people waiting for him to come back.

He had a lot to go see. And when he was done seeing the world, he could go home to where all these idiotic kids smiling over a card game.

He'd drag Kyoya over here too.

"Wait for me, Kyoya."


	2. Fairy Tales

Rouga-centric chapter, minor KyoRou.

Prompt: Fairy Tales

* * *

 _Once upon a time, there was a little white dog. That dog was owned by a cruel owner, who loved to toy with the dog. It would be kind to the dog on weekends, and on weekdays it would ignore it. The dog would try to get the owner's attention, and the owner would kick it aside, pretending it didn't exist. The dog got discouraged, but stayed out of the owner's way until it was the weekends. Soon its entire life's purpose was to wait for the weekends, so that it would actually gain some kindness from its beloved owner._

 _One day the owner got tired of watching the dog give its endless affection no matter what they did to the dog, and so it told the dog that it was taking the dog on a vacation. They drove into the woods, where the owner told the dog to stay in a cave while the owner went to get the supplies. Then the owner left for home, leaving the dog in the cave._

 _The little dog stayed in the cave, waiting for the owner to show up again. It waited and waited and waited. It huddled in the cave when it rained, and watched the sun when the sky was clear. But it never left, trusting its owner to come back someday._

 _Ten years later, the owner showed up at the cave again by coincidence, having already forgotten about the dog a long time ago. The dog was ecstatic to see the owner again, but the owner told the dog they never cared about it. And then the owner left again._

 _So that little white dog hid in the cave, growing sadder and angrier by the day. As its anger grew, its body grew as well. And so it grew and grew until it became a giant monster, eating anyone who came near the cave._

"That's just a fairy tale." Rouga says.

"All fairy tales have to come from somewhere." The old man in the bar says, taking another drink. "Are you sure you don't want any?" He says, holding out the bottle to him.

"I'm underage, so no. I'll stick to water." Rouga says, drinking from his glass. He poured some of the contents onto a plate and pushed it over to Cerberus, who immediately began lapping it up. The fairy tale felt familiar, but he didn't remember from where. Maybe one of Kyoya's old story books? "So do you tell fairy tales to every person who comes through here?"

"You're a funny kid." The old man snickers. "Where're you heading?"

"Wherever. I'm not wanted in a lot of places."

"You are wanted in others though, isn't that great?" The old man sighs. "The world's pretty big."

"Not big enough for some people." Rouga mutters. The old man raises an eyebrow at that. "Oh. I know this… person. He's trying to do a lot, but he's lost sight of the world we live in."

"And he's shut himself off from the world as a result." The old man finishes. "Youngsters getting caught up in themselves so much they can't see other people anymore."

It had been a week since Rouga had left ChouTokyo. While they weren't the cleanest, shady bars were good for some things. It provided quick and easy protection from the police, as well as a cheap place to get food and water. He still had the credit card Kyoya had given him long ago, but he was worried that if he used it, he could get tracked. Rouga wasn't sure why the old man was talking to him, but he didn't dislike the conversation.

"Not all of them." Rouga says. "Sure, we're a bunch of stubborn idiots, but a lot of us care about each other. Some too much."

The old man smiles back. "Kids these days. Changing the world before they're even legal to drink!" He cackles.

Changing the world, huh.

"So what's your family like?"

"They're… fine." Kyoya was probably fine. "Really rich."

"And what kind of family lets their kid wander off in the woods at, what are you, sixteen?"

"Fourteen. And he and I aren't on the best terms right now."

"What is he, a kid?"

"Yeah."

The man takes another long drink, then waves at the bartender for another. The bartender ignores him. "Jeez," The old man huffs, then turns back to Rouga. "I don't mean your brother or something. I mean your parents."

That's a sensitive topic. Rouga doesn't even know why it's a sensitive topic, since they were no different from any other family in the slums, but it felt too personal. "They're both dead. I got adopted and taken over to Japan, and I like it."

"Is that so." The old man says quietly.

"Whatever happened to the dog in the fairy tale?" Rouga asks. The old man smiles ominously at him, the light glinting off the glass of alcohol he held. He looked so old and his skin was so pale and wrinkled, it was almost like he was a ghost.

"It's still out there, waiting for its owner to come back so that it can get its revenge."

* * *

There's a little village at the back of Mount Fuji, Rouga discovers. It's really small, and reminds him the slums he had been born in, but richer and happier. He doesn't know why he would come back here, after the whole incident with Gaen Kyoya and the Mine, but he found himself here somehow.

He walks down the trail down the center, and already sees two little kids playing ball by the side, but neither of them were smiling. Not happier.

Rouga tries to put on the least scary face he knows, and walks over to the kids. "H-Hey there, kids? Do you know if there's a place for travellers to stay here?" He says, smiling awkwardly. His face hurts at the effort. The kids look up at him with strange faces.

"Y-You could probably stay anywhere you wanted to now…" One of the kids, the older one mumbles. Both of the kids are dressed in dirt and rags, and Rouga can see a few other children peeking their heads out of the little townhouses. No adults though.

"Fuu, there's a newcomer!" The little kid shouts. From a house down the road, a girl a bit older than Rouga walks out, a basket of apples in her arms. She's dressed no better than the rest of them, with her brown hair cut jaggedly across her shoulders.

"Who are you, and why are you here?" The girl walks up to Rouga and demands, looking down on him from the few centimetres taller she is.

"Aragami Rouga. I'm a traveller passing through." Rouga says.

"Did you have to come here of all places?"

"I've been walking for two days. If you have space, any free space at all, I'll take it."

The girl looks conflicted. She clicks her tongue in annoyance, pointing at the house at the farthest down the trail. "You can stay there if you want. But we can't give you any food."

"That's fine with me."

The house isn't bad. It's nicely furnishes, snug and warm, and has a large bed. He sets the fireplace ablaze, and watches the flames flicker. There's a family photo on the ledge above the fireplace, showing a happy mom, dad, and little boy. None of the people featured are in the house.

The door opens, and a little girl, the one at the entrance of the village, walks in with a piece of bread. She sits next to Rouga next to the fire wordlessly, watching the flames.

"Uh," Rouga starts, "can I, help you?"

The little girl holds out the bread to him. "Here."

"I thought I wasn't going to get any food."

"Here." The girl says again. Her stomach growls loudly.

Rouga sighs, and takes the bread from her. He breaks of a small lump from it and pops it in his mouth, then hands the rest of the bread back to the girl. "I'm not hungry." He says.

The girl looks reluctantly, but takes the bread back and begins to eat. "Do you know what happened here?" Rouga asks.

The little girl finishes eating the bread, then swallows hard. "There's a monster at the top of the mountain. Kiru's dad went up there, and never came back down, and when other adults went to investigate, they found the monster. It's been demanding food from our village. If a person from our village doesn't go to the top at the beginning of every day, the monster comes down and takes a bunch of us away." The little girl says.

"A monster?"

"It's really scary!" The little girl says, curling up in a little ball. "The adults all went up first, but there's none of them left now, and the rest of us are going to die. We're all going to die…"

Nameless and quickly, like snowflakes melting. The little girl looked like Hyoryu Kiri. Nobody would miss a little village like this. Nobody would miss another nameless kid dead.

 _"Rouga, what if I create a world where kids finally have a voice. Nobody would have to die off meaninglessly. Everyone would live together happily. Nobody would have conditions like the slums you and all the rest of the kids had to live through. We'll create a better world, where none of us will be powerless!"_

Rouga sighs, then picks up his spear from where he set it. "Cerberus, we have work to do." He says, and Cerberus looks up from where they had been napping. He looks at the little girl and smiles gently, patting the girls head. "Thanks for the bread. We're going to slay the monster now."

He walks out of the front door, and looks at Mount Fuji illuminated by the stars in the night. He can still remember the portal forming a month ago, the fighting, the pain in his body, Kyoya losing.

"Small steps, Kyoya. Small steps are fine."


	3. Sacrifice

Events after this take place some time after s2 ep 21 so minor spoilers for eps up until then. Featuring Sofia as the most awkward wingman ever. Warnings for some violence.

Prompt: Sacrifice

* * *

Rouga travels up Mount Fuji, flying above the trees using Disaster Force with Cerberus by his side. "The girl said the monster appeared a month ago." Cerberus says.

"It might have been one of the monsters that actually got through Kyoya's portal." Rouga says. He thought he and Tasuku had managed to close it in time, but apparently not. There was no other explanation he could think of.

The land at the top of the mountain, where there's a large cave the size of the Buddy Police building, covered in snow top to bottom. "It feels like the dragon's den." Cerberus admits, transforming back into their usual size just in case.

"I can handle dragons at least." Rouga laughs, and they walk forwards into the cave.

It's completely dark, and after walking in the dark for fifteen minutes Rouga's tempted to maybe think the kids were just making up stories and the adults had just gone somewhere else for a while. "Battle Aura Circle." Rouga casts, letting the orange light flaring out from his palm illuminate the cave. "Where are we…"

He stops when he sees the blood on the walls.

Rouga steps back in shock, hearing a splash at his feet where his foot lands. He scrambles away when he realizes it's a pool of blood, trying to shake it off his shoe. There's a growling noise echoing off the walls. "Cerberus? What's wrong?"

"That's not me!"

Rouga's eyes widen, and he leaps to the side just in time as something huge barrels down the center of the cave, kicking up dirt and dust flying in his face and extinguishing the only source of light he had. It roars, and Rouga holds his ears because it feels like they'll break if he doesn't. "Demon Slay Slash!" Rouga yells, slashing downwards with his spear and sending a shockwave towards the general direction of the beast.

He hears a louder growl when the attack hits, and takes the chance to cast another Battle Aura Circle. In the dark, with only the flames illuminating the cave, the beast is huge. It reminds Rouga of Azi Dahaka at full stature, and he never fared well against Azi Dahaka. Let alone this thing.

Rouga casts another Demon Slay Slash, running out of the beast's line of sight. The strike bounces harmlessly off its side. "What?!" He skids to a halt, not believing what he just saw. "Thunder Devastation!" He yells, sending electric shockwaves through the ground all around the cave.

It sparks around the beast's feet without damaging it at all.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Rouga mutters. "Explosive Axe, Ricdeau Demon Slay!" He casts, gripping the axe in front of him and rushing forwards to attack. He slashes at the monster's back, it roars, it turns to push him away and Cerberus leaps up to bite its arm. It bats Cerberus away with one paw, and Rouga turns to fly after his buddy, dodging two more strikes.

"Are you okay?!" Rouga yells, pulling Cerberus out of the dent it made in the cave wall. He looks at the monster again and grits his teeth. It doesn't look like any Darkness Dragon World monster he remembered. In fact, it looked a bit like a black Rottweiler. If a Rottweiler could be ten stories high and bloodthirsty.

Rouga wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but it wasn't this. He didn't even think it was possible for anything to be impervious to Disaster Force.

He charges forwards with the axe again, aiming a strike at the head. The beast catches the axe before it lands, breaks the axe in its paws and throws Rouga down into the ground. The air flies out of him, and his body can barely move as he struggles for breath. Above him, the beast aims a foot down towards him, to stomp him into the ground. Rouga scowls, grabbing his Dark Core spear and holding it above him to catch the attack, wincing at the force pushing back his arms as the foot hits the spear, pushing him further into the ground.

 _And his spear breaks in his hands._

"Rouga!" Cerberus yelled, tackling him aside as the monster swipes at him again. The two crash into a wall, and Rouga watches the broken parts of his spear transform back into the Dark Core, with the jewel on the front cracked and deactivated. His hair's extra length added by the Dark Core sheds off, and he can feel his hair's natural length. It's unnatural.

"Oh no, no no no," Rouga panics. "Disaster Force, activate!" He yells, holding it in the air. Nothing happens. Cerberus growls, then charges towards the beast again, but without Disaster Force to sustain them anymore, they transform back into the card and floats to the ground uselessly before even reaching the beast. "Disaster Force, activate!" Rouga yells again, his hand shaking around the deck case.

He doesn't have Disaster Force. He's powerless.

Rouga grabs Cerberus's card from the ground, the Battle Aura Circle extinguishing long ago. He runs out of the cave as fast as he can, his only luck being how the beast didn't follow him in the dark.

* * *

Rouga ends up in ChouOsaka, watching news broadcasts on TV in a dingy café. He stirs the coffee put in front of him absentmindedly. The incident with the strange beast on Mount Fuji two days ago kept weighing on him. To begin with Disaster Force had been created to destroy the world eventually, but still. He had gotten that case from Kyoya.

He has no power currently. Cerberus could only appear in their buddy form, and that was only occasionally. They had gotten injured in the fight with the beast, and were off in Danger World getting maintenance and help.

He had left the bag that Gao's family had given him of food back at the village too. While it was nice that those kids would have some more food for a few days, he himself had no food.

 _"And next on the news, Gaen Kyoya announces a new plan to expand his company further to the outskirts of Japan."_

He needs some fresh air. Rouga finishes the coffee, drops a few coins on the table and leaves.

This was probably a bad development. Most of Rouga's survival plans had depended on the Dark Core. He had it active for so long, he wasn't used to the feeling of not having power constantly ready go when he needed it. He felt exposed, weak. He feels cold with his hair so short. Rouga grumbles some more, his hands in his pockets as he walked down the streets of ChouOsaka. It's a cold November, and he isn't at all prepared for winter. Rouga sighs.

How do you fight against something even Disaster Force doesn't work on?

He finds himself down a dark alley, near the entrance to this week's Buddyfight Club. Annoying scum, they were. It's in a rundown hotel, with a few guards at the entrance. He hates the place, but he's been here a few times before, and the guards recognize him.

"Hey, aren't you Aragami Rouga?"

"Why's your hair short now?"

"None of your business." Rouga mutters, continuing to walk past them.

"You haven't been here in so long! You sure you don't want to go in, just for old times' sake?"

"No thanks."

He didn't even have a Core Deck Case for buddyfighting right now, let alone his buddy. Things would only end in disaster if he went in.

"We're not raising the price, and we're not done here." Rouga hears from inside the hotel, then the doors burst open and a man is flying out, landing face first in the dirt at his feet. And strolling out right behind him is Sofia Sakharov, long hair flaring out.

"Hey, what are you─" The first guard begins, and then both are frozen in their places at a wave of her hand.

"You began at four hundred, so we're staying to four hundred." Sofia says, walking over to the man, who's currently cowering in fear and crawling away. They both stop when the man bumps into Rouga's feet. "Aragami Rouga?" Her eyes flash dangerously.

The man takes the chance to try and make a run for it, but before he even gets to his feet, he's frozen into an ice sculpture. Sofia's bow and arrow are in her hands, pointed at Rouga's heart. "Leave immediately." She demanded.

"You don't have to order me for something like that, I was just leaving anyways." Rouga says, turning to go. He couldn't exactly fight her on equal terms currently.

"Wait. Where's your Disaster Force?"

He just shrugs. "Lost it."

An arrow grazes the flesh of his left arm, and he howls in pain, catching it with his other hand and turning back to glare at her. "What?!" He yells, wincing as he threw the arrow back at her. It misses by a whole meter.

"Lost it? Don't joke in front of me." Sofia says, another arrow already pointed at him. "You want to die a dog's death that badly?"

Rouga smirks. "Are you kind enough to grant me one?"

Sofia's face rarely changes, but years of spending time with her had led Rouga to be able to pick up on the little changes that represented her large emotions. That downward twitch represented her scowling in annoyance and reluctance. Her gritting her teeth meant she was really, really frustrated. "Do you know how much I've sacrificed for Kyoya-sama? How much he's sacrificed for the sake of the world? And you doubted his plans and power."

"He's the one that discarded me."

"There's no need for pawns if they don't do exactly what you want them too."

"So you're the perfect pawn then. Congratulations, you want a medal?"

"Those without power have no right to talk."

Rouga stops talking. Sofia pulls back the arrow further, and Rouga can actually see anger in her eyes for once. "Right now, Kyoya-sama is being an idiot like the rest of you. He holes himself up in the office and barely eats or sleeps. He's not paying attention to anything he's doing. It's because of people like you!"

"What are you talking about─"

"He's acting like a heartbroken idiot who can't get over his first crush." Sofia says. "And so are you."

Heartbroken… "Oh." Even with a bleeding shoulder and the threat of another pointed straight at him, Rouga feels his face flush. "Okay."

Sofia has a disgusted look on her face. "I never liked you. Do what you want. Play with your ' _friends_ '. Don't get in my way again." She grabs the back of the collar of the still frozen man. "Don't go around causing me more work." He faintly hears her say.

"Y-Yeah, sure." Rouga mumbles. Sofia has already lowered the bow, but he doesn't feel free to go. Or really want to. He does want to find out more, but he also doesn't. And not from Sofia of all people, who could barely feel emotions to begin with. "So, what does that─"

"Grow a backbone, you self-sacrificing idiot." Sofia turns away and disappears into a portal.


	4. Day Night

Sorta Roukiri and Routasu for this one

Prompt: **Day / Night**

* * *

Rouga sees Gao's loss weeks after it actually happens. He's been trekking through the woods, and ends up in ChouHodaka somehow. He can see a lodge near his location, but he's pretty much out of coins to pay for anything now. He considers stealing some food, but without Disaster Force it's pretty risky. But he is starving. Rouga watches steam and heat emanate from the lodge, and his mouth waters at the thought of food.

"Aragami-senpai?" He spins in shock, to see Hyoryu Kiri standing there with a shopping bag on his arm. "What are you doing all the way out here? And what happened to your hair?"

Why was Hyoryu Kiri here? Rouga hesitates, because the last thing he remembered happening to the boy was trying to help shut down the mine, but get taken out early. "It's a long story." He admits, and his stomach picks that timing to growl. They both stare at it in surprise.

"Is it okay if you tell it to me over some lunch?" Kiri asks. Rouga refuses to meet his eyes.

"Yeah, that's fine."

The explanation Rouga gives is a pretty shortened one, leaving out the giant beast and just saying he broke the deck case in a fight somewhere. Kiri shares some stories of the news that he missed while away from technology. "Gao lost in a buddyfight?!" The cup of coffee in Rouga's hands almost slips out and spills. "What?! When!"

"A few weeks ago, actually." Kiri says. "Gao-kun lost to Ikazuchi, the person in charge of the Hundred Demons. According to Baku-kun and Kuguru-san, he's been acting weird afterwards."

"Weird?"

"He won't use Dragon World anymore."

"What?!" The loss was that shocking to Gao? "He lost to the Hundred Demons…" Come to think of it, he had seen Sofia running around in a ridiculous costume calling herself Death Shido or something a while back using some cards called the Hundred Demons. Shido had been doing it too. Rouga had dismissed it as a joke as a result, but apparently they were serious.

The lodge Kiri's father owns is nice, on the other hand. There's a warm fire, and the news on a big TV playing next to the sofas they're seated on, around a glass coffee table. Rouga has a large plate of crackers in front of him, and he's glad Kiri's here, for whatever reason.

"It's day, but you can barely see the sun." Kiri says quietly, watching the coffee swirl around. "It's so misty up here lately, I'm amazed you found this place, Aragami-senpai." He says, forcing a smile.

"I've found a lot of things I didn't expect, honestly."

"It does get a bit lonely around here." Kiri smiles. "You can stay in one of the rooms if you'd like."

Rouga isn't used to kindness so easily. "T-Thanks." He mumbles, looking at the TV so he doesn't have to meet Kiri's eyes. "A lot is happening around Japan, isn't it."

"And next in the news, Gaen Kyoya announces a plan to create another power station on the top of Mount Fuji, which he bought two months ago for the Gaen Cup Finale." The lady on the screen speaks. "This will be an environmentally friendly system, with the source at the very top of Mount Fuji to transmit to the radars all across Japan─"

"He can't!" Rouga shouts, jumping up. "He can't! There's that, thing on top of the mountain, Disaster Force doesn't work on it! He's not going to be able to build anything there! I need to warn him─" He scrambles to grab his spear from beside him.

 _"Don't ever show your face in front of me again."_

His hands only reach empty air. Rouga stops.

"Aragami-senpai?"

Rouga just sits back down, gazing at his powerless hands. He couldn't fight the monster, and he had no way of telling Kyoya about it. He couldn't do anything.

Kiri reaches over to pat his back soothingly. "If it makes you feel any better, they're not starting the project for another month. You have plenty of time to figure something out." He tries.

"Yeah," he mumbles. "Yeah. Something…"

Why had he even bothered starting a journey like this?

"Aragami-senpai, you're always focusing on Gaen Kyoya. Are you travelling to try and help him?"

"No, I'm just," Rouga hesitates. "I'm just, travelling. To find something."

"This is just my opinion, but I don't think you'll be able to find yourself if you keep looking towards Gaen Kyoya for the answers." Kiri says, and Rouga just stares at him in wonder.

Looking towards Kyoya for answers? But he wasn't really looking towards Kyoya. That much. Rouga looks down into the cup of coffee, watching it swirl around like the portal above Mount Fuji a month ago. He kept looking for something to explain his own weakness, why things hadn't worked out after waiting so long, why he was so powerless compared to everything else around him. He kept clinging to Disaster Force, a power that wasn't his in the first place.

He had just been deluding himself with the illusion of freedom.

"Yeah, maybe that's it." Rouga says dumbly, not knowing what else to say. "But I still want Kyoya to be my friend again. And I need to let him know about what's going on, or else something really bad will happen."

Kiri just smiles sadly at him. "It's fine. It'll all work out somehow."

* * *

Rouga ends up back in ChouTokyo. He's here a lot earlier than he had originally planned, but doesn't know what to do now. It's not as if he particularly wants to face Kyoya, and doubts he'd even get the chance to anyways. He wanders up the steps to the ChouTokyo shrine at the top of the farthest mountain in the back, and wonders if praying to a god that didn't exist would help his situation at all. The shrine is tall and it looks fragile. A single spark would burn the entire thing to the ground.

Back in the slums, nobody prayed to the gods, since they all knew that they weren't going to get saved. But his mom had prayed a few times before she died of hypothermia, leaving him alone at the age of 6. Sometimes Rouga wondered about her.

Kyoya had taken him to this shrine, along with Sofia and Davide and Shido, back when they were little. They had all prayed for stupid things, and made fun of each other about them. Mostly Davide and Shido. Rouga had prayed to never go hungry again and to get to stay with Kyoya forever.

He snorted at the memory. Both of those had worked out great.

"Do you believe in fairy tales yet?" Rouga hears, and sees the old man from before walking past some trees.

"Hey, wait!" Rouga yells, stepping forwards to chase after the man's shadow, but it disappeared into the trees with no trace. "Wait─"

"Aragami Rouga?"

Rouga turns to see a familiar blue-haired kid standing at the top of the stairs. "Ryuuenji Tasuku." He acknowledges, then looks back in the direction the old man disappeared in. There's not a trace left of what happened. If that man could use something similar to Sofia's portal teleportation, he would have at least seen or heard something.

"You're back already?"

"Things happen."

Tasuku frowns. "What happened to your hair?" His eyes widen when Rouga doesn't answer. "What happened to the Dark Core?"

Rouga takes the case out of his pocket, showing the cracked crystal on the front. "What do you think?" He says dryly.

Tasuku takes one look at the case and sighs, sitting down on the top step overlooking ChouTokyo. "It's been a long and tiring month for all of us then."

"Any sign of Variable Cord?"

"None. Any contact with Gaen Kyoya?"

"Nope. Are the Buddy Police able to get contact with him?"

"No one can. No messages in, only the rare message out. He's completely shut off from the world unless he's the one doing the talking."

That sounds like Kyoya alright.

It aches all over. No matter how much he tries, Rouga can't get used to this feeling of not having Disaster Force at his fingertips. It puts him on edge, and he can't stop panicking at the slightest sound. When they were little Kyoya kept talking about how easy it would be to control the world, but after actually seeing it so close up, Rouga doesn't know how he was able to think Kyoya would be able to do it. "The world's too big." He mumbles.

Tasuku looks at him in surprise and snorts. "Yeah, way too big compared to us. But some things you just gotta live with."

"I'm surprised you're still this upbeat after losing Jackknife Dragon."

"Well, if anything, my last time losing Jack taught me that it's pointless to curse the world when you lose something. Sure, it keeps you distracted, takes your mind off of it, gives you a target to point fingers at. But in the end you get nothing done, and you're not any closer to getting back what you lost."

Tasuku fiddles with his Core Deck Case, and Rouga doesn't miss the disappearance of the usual card that would be at the front of his deck.

"Don't force yourself. Recovery isn't easy."

"I'm not injured."

"You aren't physically. That's what you and Gao-kun don't understand. The damage is up here." Tasuku says, tapping the side of his head. "How many days are you going to spend staring off into space? How many nights are you going to spend thinking instead of acting? Nothing will change if you don't change it."

Rouga smiles a little. "I don't need to get lectured by my kouhai."

"You need it right now."

He breathes in the cold winter air, and feels a bit warmer. "Yeah." What a weird relationship, him hanging out with a Buddy Police member. "There are weird things happening on Mount Fuji."

"Weird?"

"A monster impervious to Disaster Force."

"What?!" Tasuku looks at him in shock. "That's a joke, right?"

"No, it actually exists. Seems more like a fairy tale than anything. I thought it might be a Darkness Dragon World monster that we missed coming through the portal, but it also looks nothing like a dragon."

"I see." Tasuku rubs his chin as he thinks. "What if it actually is a fairy tale?"

"Huh?" Rouga knew Tasuku was younger than him, but this was just strange. "You're a bit old to be still believing in fairy tales."

"That's not what I mean." Tasuku makes a childish angry face at him, which he just replies back with a raised eyebrow. "Even with all the research done, we really don't understand much about the portals between worlds, or how Future Force or Disaster Force works exactly. The parallel worlds function on different energy sources from ours, who knows what would happen if the different particles and energy mixed. It would probably be best to assume anything as possible, considering how little we actually know."

Different energy mixing, strange occurrences happening as a result. It didn't have to be a monster that came through the portal to be dangerous to earth… Maybe…

Maybe…

Rouga turns back to Tasuku. "Gao's recovering too. I heard he isn't better yet. Why don't you give him that pep talk of yours?"

Tasuku gives a little guilty smile. "We're not on the best of terms right now."

"You two? Not on good terms?" Rouga resists the urge to snort. Those two had been looking at each other like the other was the sun ever since they first met. It was pretty much impossible for Rouga to imagine those two mad at each other.

"We, may have said some bad things to each other. I'm looking for a good time to apologize, but I can't seem to ever find it. Trying to find Jack and Variable Cord is taking up a lot of time too."

 _"Grow a backbone, you self-sacrificing idiot."_

"Guess that applies to all of us." Rouga mutters, standing up again. "There's something I need to do, and I can't keep hesitating to achieve it." He can see the edges of ChouTokyo from up here, and notes the Gaen Financial Group tower to the west. "I'll probably be in town for a few days. Do you know a place I could stay?"

Tasuku smiles a bit. "I think Gao-kun would be happy to see you again. Why don't you stop by there?"


	5. Poetry

Poem is "Do not go gentle into that good night" by Dylan Thomas, with a slight alteration in the last stanza. Kudos to you if you catch it. Pretty easy to do though, just search up the original. My headcanon that Kyoya just shoved a whole bunch of fancy arts knowledge onto Rouga when they were kids for fun.

Prompt: **Poetry**

* * *

"A-Aragami-senpai, you're back!" Gao exclaims, his face lighting up when he sees Rouga at the door of his house. Rouga can see the bags under his eyes though. His smile's less wide than it usually is. Rouga feels partially guilty for that; if he had stayed around, maybe he could have done something. But he was here now, and that was all that mattered.

"Come wait inside, I'll get Grandma to make some more takoyaki for you!" Gao says, waving him inside to the couch, where he sits awkwardly, waiting for Gao to come back out of the kitchen. He comes out a few seconds with a huge plate piled up the same height as Gao himself, and Rouga wonders how fast his grandma is with making these.

They eat in silence, enjoying the food. "I didn't get to eat all of the food your family made." Rouga says, when they're halfway through the mountain.

"It's fine, we'll make more for you!" Gao says, stuffing a few more in his mouth.

"Where's your buddy."

Gao stops mid-chew. "He's… with Tasuku-senpai." He mumbles. "It's better that way."

"And how is that better?"

"I'm not a member of the Buddy Police Youth anymore, but Drum's an Omni Lord, and they need him. It's a win-win."

"And how is that a win for you?"

"I need some time to think, okay!" Gao yells, and Rouga actually leans back in surprise. It's the first time he's heard Gao raise his voice in anger of all things. Gao seems to realize his mistake and immediately scrambles to apologize. "Sorry, Aragami-senpai! Sorry…"

He looks completely lost right now, Gao, and Rouga isn't used to that. "I'm scared." He whispers. "I'm scared something'll happen. I don't want," his voice cracks, "I don't want to keep losing people I care about. But I'm not getting any better or stronger. I don't know what to do."

Rouga just bites into another takoyaki. "Okay," He says quietly. "Okay." They sit there, in Gao's living room, with the only sound being of Rouga chewing on the food. "You're not going to recover overnight. It takes a long time."

"I don't have a long time." Gao shoots up, worry all over his face. "The Hundred Demons could attack any second, and I can't do a single thing to protect anyone!"

"Trust in your friends a bit, will you." Rouga shoots back. "They're working their butts off trying to keep things safe. It's not as if they're weak either. You should know that first hand." Gao looks guiltier, but nods in agreement. "That's why believe in them, just like how they believe in you."

Gao fidgets with his hands and doesn't meet his eyes, but nods again. "Yeah. Yeah, okay."

"Okay."

Rouga really doesn't know how to deal with a depressed Gao, so used to the alternative. It's uncomfortable. "Ikazuchi said I have no right to judge him." Gao mumbles. "His entire family is frozen in stone, and he smiled. I don't understand."

Rouga's not sure how to answer that. But he's never seen Gao look so down before, so defeated. "I think," Rouga starts, "Yeah. You can't really judge things you've never been through. But that doesn't mean Ikazuchi was right."

His own dad might as well have just been a sperm donor, and died of AIDS before he was born. His mom looked after him, before dying of hypothermia when he was six. She was always working, and barely talked to him, always coming home at the end of the day completely exhausted. But she taught him a lot of important things before she left. She had been dragged out to get thrown in the ditch with the rest of the slum people that died. The contents of the pit had long been cremated and scattered in the ocean. Kyoya had been his only family ever since.

Rouga's family hadn't really worked out well, but he wouldn't wish death on them. Kyoya had been the most family he ever had, and he wasn't even blood related. Rouga didn't want any of them dead. "Some people do bad things, and if Ikazuchi's family really was that bad to him, I don't think they deserve to be called family. Those who you care about the most can become your real family. I think you're really lucky to have both." Rouga says. "Ikazuchi doesn't have a family by blood. You can try becoming his new family though."

Gao looks surprised while listening to him talk, and Rouga wonders if he said something wrong. "How?" He asks.

What a silly question. "By doing what you always do. Become his friend."

The corner of Gao's lips tug upwards, and Rouga feels very proud of himself for causing that. "Yeah, I guess. Yeah. Thanks, Aragami-senpai."

They continue to talk about a few other things happening around, and Gao sounds happier talking about others. Eventually they turn on the TV, and watch some strange cartoon Gao's recorded. The kid keeps laughing when Rouga doesn't understand the joke.

"Oh come on, how could you not find that funny!"

"Find what funny?"

"What do you even watch on TV?"

"Mostly just the news."

"Wow, so boring senpai." Gao comments, but switches over to the news channel.

 _"And the Gaen Financial Group is finally having a conference on the topic of their new expansion plan, the first time Gaen Kyoya has agreed to meet with other business leaders in weeks. It's currently being held at the Gaen Tower, and we will give you an update as soon as it's over. Meanwhile, recently in ChouNagoya, there have been multiple─"_

"Hey, Gao," Rouga says, "can you do a favour for me?"

* * *

"Over there?!"

"Yeah! Sneak around from the side though!"

The wind buffers at his face, and he has to hold onto Gao's shoulder or he feels like he might get blown off. Gao's buddy skill really is made for one person. Rouga keeps wondering if this is how he dies: falling off a tiny buddy skill a hundred metres in the air because he asked for a really reckless and dumb favour. They fly over ChouTokyo, slowing down when Gaen Tower comes into sight. "Twenty-third floor, to the west. That's the conference room he likes using the best."

They fly around the building slowly, stopping before the window. Rouga leans over and peeks inside.

Kyoya's standing at the front of the room, pointing at a map of Mount Fuji and explaining something Rouga can't hear through the walls. He looks pretty normal, but Rouga can see the tiredness hanging to his face. He was using his left hand less than usual. He probably wasn't exercising normally either. But Rouga could tell by his posture that at least he was speaking confidently.

"Are you sure you don't want to go try to call out to him, or anything else like that?" Gao asks.

"Nah," Rouga answers, watching Kyoya go over the board with fire in his eyes, a smile creeping onto his face. "No. This is fine."

This is fine.

* * *

Rouga treks down the familiar path to Mount Fuji. By the movement in the sky, he should reach by around the day before the Gaen project was scheduled to start its actions. He has a fairly good idea of what to do now though, no matter how ridiculous and risky the idea is. But there's no point in hesitating or feeling sorry for himself now.

He reaches the village, and there's a huge dome of ice frozen around the village, creating a transparent barrier against the outside. It's still cold, barely melting, and thick enough that it would take Rouga at least a few minutes to break through if he used his spear. But there's a small section cut out, similar to a door. He can fit through easily, but there's no way the beast on the mountain could.

Next to the entrance is a slip of paper, with a Dark Core on top as a paperweight. Rouga's eyes widen, bending down to pick up the paper, turning it over to read the papers on the back.

 _Do not go gentle into that good night,  
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;  
Rage, rage against the dying of the light._

 _Though wise men at their end know dark is right,_  
 _Because their words had forked no lightning they_  
 _Do not go gentle into that good night._

 _Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright_  
 _Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,_  
 _Rage, rage against the dying of the light._

 _Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,_  
 _And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,_  
 _Do not go gentle into that good night._

 _Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight_  
 _Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,_  
 _Rage, rage against the dying of the light._

 _And you, my friend, there on the sad height,_  
 _Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray._  
 _Do not go gentle into that good night._  
 _Rage, rage against the dying of the light._

 _"Do you know how inconspicuous it is to be flying around in the middle of the day?"_ Rouga reads out loud. The poem is written in beautiful calligraphy, and at the bottom of the page are the scribbled words in familiar handwriting. _"I'll leave it to you."_ Rouga smiles.

"Well if you put it that way," he sighs, placing his deck inside the Dark Core. "Disaster Force, activate."


	6. The Future

Rouga comes to terms with his past and present, and the future to come.

Prompt: The Future

* * *

"You're back?" Fuu exclaims in surprise when she sees him walking back into the village again. "Are you the one that sent that weird girl that came by and froze all around the village? We haven't sent a sacrifice up since it was created, because the girl said it was no longer necessary."

 _"Don't go around causing me more work."_

Rouga really didn't listen well. "No, she just happens to be an acquaintance." He says. "I need to clarify some things though. What happens if a person doesn't go up to sacrifice themself every day?"

"The monster comes down to eat a whole bunch of us, more than the regular deal of one sacrifice."

"Has it ever actually done that?"

Fuu paused. "No. We were all too scared to ever risk losing more than one person per day. Why?"

"I have an idea." Rouga turns back to the mountain, and gazes at the cave located at the very tip. He could feel the familiar power of Disaster Force coursing through his veins, concentrating at his fingertips and waiting for his command. "Thanks, Kyoya, but I'm not someone that needs your command or help for everything anymore."

He looks at Fuu, who's relatively better looking than last time when she was constantly stressed out by the village's situation. "This whole thing's partially my fault, but, I have an idea how to solve it." Rouga says. "And, if the idea doesn't work and I don't come back down, if a person called Gaen Kyoya comes by," the words get caught in his throat "could you tell him, I'm sorry."

This is his stand, and he if he's going down, he's going down with everything he has.

* * *

Rouga climbs up Mount Fuji all on his own, enjoying the scenery for once instead of just flying above it. He's taunted by his own shadow the entire time. There's more than just his pair of footsteps crunching leaves, and there's not his laugher surrounding him. "Do you believe in fairy tales?" He sees the old man again, standing by a tree and smiling. The man steps to the side and disappears, and reappears to Rouga's right, sitting on a chair and petting a dog in his arms. "How about now? Do you really think your fairy tale ending will come?" Rouga walks past him, and the man reappears right in front of him. "You born in the slums, you die in the slums. You're just lying to yourself right now; you'll never be anything more than another slum kid to die nameless in the snow."

"Shut up, dad." Rouga mutters, and walks right through him, ignoring the chill that runs through him as he passes through the ethereal form. He finally remembers where he thought the fairy tale sounded familiar. His mom sometimes told him the story, and one time when he asked where she heard it, she replied how it was an old story his father told her. He never liked that fairy tale.

"This is reality. You don't solve a problem just because you want to. Your master isn't coming up to save you when you fail." The old man's voice echoes from behind him. "None of your attacks work on that beast! You think believing in yourself will achieve some different result? As if! The world isn't as kind as that. Go back to the slums and die a dog's death, even when you don't deserve that much. Gaen Kyoya hates your existence, remember!"

Rouga stops. Yeah, Kyoya probably did. But Rouga can't get that memory of being able to happily hang out with the other when they were kids, the happiest moment of his life being when Kyoya entered. And thanks to Kyoya, his world has gotten so much larger. "Even if he hates me, I don't hate him."

"Why do you get to escape the slums and leave everyone else behind?"

The voice is finally quiet, but still harsh and unforgiving and Rouga turns to finally face the man properly. "Is that what all this is about?" He says sadly. The man's expression is angry and upset and frustrated, and Rouga thinks he can understand that feeling well.

"Do you know how many died in the slums, not a single hope for the future? And yet you get to leave, live in a cushy home, and get a future. No health care, never enough food, dirty water, sewage in our homes, never more than a dime in our pockets, I never had anything of my own. But you get so much!"

"You never even bothered naming me, dad." Rouga says. "Nobody gets remembered in the slums."

"But you do, by so many people."

He's tired. He's so tired of listening to others go on and on, as if they know more about him than he does himself. For once, Rouga just wants to do what he wants, run free, and not have any of this tying him down. He doesn't want the ghost of his family always grabbing his ankles, pulling him down, back into that past that always tormented him.

"When I was ten," Rouga says, "I had been picked up by Gaen Kyoya, and lived together with him in his house. Every night, trying to get to sleep in a cushy bed with silk blankets, I saw the faces of the other kids in the slums. I can remember that little girl who lived with her older sister down the path back in our hut. She had been bitten by a poisonous insect, and no one knew what to do, and it swelled up her body until the blisters burst, and she died screaming. I can remember her screaming well. Her older sister killed herself in grief after that. Their faces show up whenever I close my eyes."

The sky is still clear and light blue, although the view's obstructed by the trees. The same view in the slums had always been obstructed by pollution and gases instead. He didn't want people above him blocking his view of what could be anymore. "I miss them, just like how I miss mom, and everyone else. But this is my life, and I'm moving forwards."

And he didn't have to move forwards alone anymore.

"I'm sorry." Rouga says. "You died before I was born, and I never got to know you. I'm sorry you died like every other, and I'm sorry that I wasn't able to do anything for you or any other kids in the slums. But I'm moving forwards, and once I'm finally strong enough, I'll be able to do something for all of you."

 _"We'll create a better world, where none of us will be powerless!"_

"One of my friends already has a plan to help everyone." Rouga says. "Knowing him, he can definitely do it. I'll make sure of it."

The old man stares at him, his expression not changing, but he doesn't say anything else, and Rouga walks past him. Rouga continues on his way up the mountain, and by the time he reaches the top it's night and the old man is long gone. Too bad. He had almost enjoyed the first conversation he ever had with his dad.

Rouga looks up at the huge cave opening, its ominous jaws opening up to him. His footsteps echo off the walls like laughter, and Rouga descends into the darkness.

* * *

Rouga makes use of that trick his mom once taught him: how to make a torch easily if you only have wood and no matches. It's lucky he still remembers how to do that. The shadows dance on the walls as he wanders down further, and he faintly wonders if it's all the people who died here trying to send him a message. He can hear the growling, and knows the beast is hungry.

It's fine. Back then, he was always hungry and desperate too.

"Yo," Rouga says, and the giant eyes of the beast glower down at him, "It's been a while." It's grown larger since the last time he saw it, and the sound of the fire on the torch crackling reminds him of that temple back in ChouTokyo, the one they visited that summer, fireworks filling up the night sky as Rouga prayed for his wish to come true.

The beast roars, extinguishing the fire and making Rouga wince and brace himself from the sheer volume. It's completely dark, but Rouga can hear the beast breathing.

"Isn't it lonely in the dark?"

He can feel the wall of the cave next to him crumbling from the beast hitting it, the wind as its paw barely missed his head. "Isn't it sad? Aren't you sad? Frustrated? Angry?" His surroundings continue to get destroyed, as he takes careful silent steps in the darkness. It growls and roars and screams and by this point Rouga finally recognizes the sobbing noises.

"What good is eating people going to do? It's not going to solve anything!" Rouga shouts in the dark, and hears the beast's roar of confirmation that it heard. The ceiling begins to crumble from an attack, and he prays that it won't hit him before he's done all this. "You're not letting the problem get solved!"

It roars, and something smashes into the wall left of Rouga so hard that the entire cave shakes, more rocks fall, and a small crack forms on the ceiling where light is being let in. A sliver of moonlight manages its way into the cave, and the beast howls and retreats as soon as the light hits it.

"So it is then…" Rouga mumbles, picking a rock up off the ground to get ready for his attack. There actually was a dog abandoned here on this mountain, and when the portal to Darkness Dragon World had been opened with this mountain as a mediator, some of the energy got absorbed into all of it, easily affecting the dog. He kept seeing those annoying hallucinations on his way up too.

Well, it all ended now anyways.

Rouga threw the rock at the wall near the beast, using the tiny bit of light as assistance. It growled lightly, but didn't approach. "Yeah, I get it, you're bitter." Rouga says. "You were abandoned by the only person you loved. But that's no reason to take it out on everyone else."

The giant beast roars, stepping forwards, hissing when it passes under the light but continues on towards Rouga. He runs too, making sure the beast is following him the entire way.

"You think this cave is all there is?! There's a whole world out there; that you'll never get to see because you keep clinging to your owner in the past. There's more out there than what your owner says! You meet all sorts of horrible, terrible, scary people! People who will beat and punch you and laugh about it, way worse than your owner! But there are a lot of people who are nice, and kind, and if you just look in a new direction, you'll find that the world can be kind at times too. And there will be people who will love you and believe in you."

The beast growls some more, stepping forwards tentatively in the dark towards Rouga, who takes careful steps backwards. The growls are getting softer, and Rouga can no longer feel the ominous looming of the beast above him as they get closer to the entrance. "Yeah, it sucks. It really sucks to have the only thing you ever loved betray you. Some people really just suck." Rouga says softly. "But that's not the only thing in the world. There's a lot out there, there's no way you'll always be hated. Everyone has their problems, but that's why they have each other to help them get through their problems."

Kiri staying by himself, away from everyone else to think in the mist.

Tasuku constantly putting on a strong face despite losing Jack.

Gao wondering if family really had to be so restricted.

Kyoya recovering slowly, finally smiling purely out of happiness.

Rouga finally reaches the entrance of the cave, and faces the beast. He takes a step out, into the open night spreading over the mountain. He could see the moon setting as the sky slowly lightened. The beast is no taller than him now, still standing in the shadow of the cave and looking warily at him. "Nothing will happen if you stay feeling sorry for yourself alone. You need to take that first step outside your little world into the bigger one." Rouga says. "The world's a lot bigger than you think."

And a little black dog wanders out of the cave.

It looks up at Rouga nervously. He smiles gently at it in response, and its eyes light up and shine as the sun begins to rise from up behind the mountain. Light begins to spread over the mountaintop, and Rouga can finally see the little dog clearly. It's full of hope for the future, and Rouga thinks it would be nice if this time things worked out nicely.

His legs feel like they're about to give out, and Rouga lets them. He pulls the dog closer to him on the ground, and it curls up on his chest in a little ball. "You did good. Let's get some rest." He mumbles, and they fall asleep at the top of Mount Fuji as dawn breaks and light envelops the city, the darkness no longer controlling them.

* * *

Kyoya's business deal goes well. The rest of the kids have all been brought to an orphanage in ChouTokyo, funded by the Gaen Financial Group, and the restoration on Mount Fuji is underway. The cave is torn down, and Fuu adopts the little dog. She once messaged him to inform him that all the kids adored playing with the dog, and that there should be no problem making sure the dog was loved this time around.

"Hey," Rouga says at Gao's doorway. Gao's eyes widen, staring up at him as if he couldn't believe it.

"Aragami-senpai!" Gao shouts happily, running forwards and tackling him at the waist in what Rouga thinks is a hug. It knocks the wind out of him, and they fly backwards onto the ground, laughing the entire way.

"So it worked out then." Tasuku peeks his head out from one of the rooms inside, smiling at them.

"Oh great, you're here too." Rouga mutters, but can't contain his own smile. Gao gets off him, smile still wide, and pulls him inside to the living room where Tasuku is waiting.

"This came for you this morning." Gao says, picking up a letter on the coffee table and handing it to him. On the back is 'Aragami Rouga' in fancy print, with the Gaen logo sealing the letter shut. Rouga opens the letter carefully, taking out the small slip of paper inside.

 _"Not bad."_ Behind the note are twenty bills, each 10000 yen.

"Good job, Aragami." Tasuku says, smiling at the note.

"Gaen Kyoya contacted you! Nobody's been able to do that for months!" Gao shouts. "We need to celebrate!"

And Gao brings out more takoyaki from the kitchen, his buddy monster trailing after him and eating at a rapid pace. Rouga sits back and lets Gao's little sister fuss over his wounds, watching Gao and Tasuku engage in another buddyfight happily, eating some takoyaki occasionally. A future like this isn't bad at all.

"This is nice." Cerberus says from the sofa.

Rouga tucks the letter into the pocket of his jacket. "Yeah." He says, feeling it press against his heart. "Yeah."


End file.
